BART looks at cuts, higher fares and lot fees

BAY AREA Agency is projecting a $92 million deficit over next 18 months

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Photo: Frederic Larson, The Chronicle

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late night Bart trains zoomed out of MacArthur station in Oakland as they where scheduled to ran all night to help people get across the bay. While workers raced to fill a gaping 350-foot hole they had demolished in middle of the Bay Bridge's upper deck Monday morning, Bay Area drivers avoided the chaos that might have come with the holiday-weekend closure of the region's key viaduct by staying off the roads in droves and taking BART. BART ran trains all night on Labor Day morning as when it is usually closed. Late night party goes packed the Powell Street station after last call and enjoyed safe ride to the east bay many feeling no pain at all from the inconvenience of the bridge being closed.

late night Bart trains zoomed out of MacArthur station in Oakland as they where scheduled to ran all night to help people get across the bay. While workers raced to fill a gaping 350-foot hole they had

Confronted with falling fare and sales tax revenue, as well as anticipated funding cuts from the state, the nation's economic crisis has caught up to BART, the regional rail operation with an average weekday ridership of 348,000.

BART administrators had floated the idea of moving forward quickly with a plan to reduce the frequency of service at half the stations on nights and weekends, running the trains every 20 minutes instead of every 15.

But the idea was put on hold after the BART Board of Directors delayed the scheduled budget session to deal with the fallout from the fatal New Year's Day shooting of an unarmed man by a BART police officer, agency spokesman Linton Johnson said Tuesday.

That doesn't mean the proposal won't pop up again.

With a projected operating shortfall of $37 million for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, BART bosses think they can balance the books in the short term with a partial hiring freeze, dipping into reserves and delaying some planned capital projects, such as repaving station parking lots.

But most of those are one-time fixes that won't resolve the bigger budget problem. The projected deficit for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 is $45 million to $55 million - just short of the record $60 million deficit the agency grappled with in 2003.

"We're going to have to look at longer-term solutions that potentially will impact passengers," Mau said.

David Wang is one of those passengers. He has commuted on BART between Oakland and downtown San Francisco since landing a job in real estate management six years ago.

"I understand BART is having financial problems like everyone else," he said. "But that doesn't mean I like the idea of having to pay more for less service."

Mau was quick to point out that staff has not recommended which, if any, budget-balancing proposals should go forward. Ultimately, that decision will be made by the nine-member elected board.

Mau's budget team, however, put together a number of options - from imposing a 5-cent or 10-cent surcharge on each trip to raising fares 5.5 percent or 10 percent. The increased revenue would be $4 million to $14 million, depending on the particular fare increase.

Higher parking fees also are on the table. Among the proposals: adding $1 to the existing parking charges, beginning to charge for parking on the weekends, and extending the paid-parking hours on weeknights. BART also could start basing parking fees on demand, charging more when the lots near capacity and less when spaces are plentiful.

Another potential money saver: starting service an hour later in the morning and ending it an hour earlier at night, which officials say would save more than $2.4 million a year.

One idea on the options list isn't expected to go anywhere: Closing select stations on weekends. The plan would end up costing the agency more than it saves due to lost fare revenue, Mau said.

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